


Support System

by QuinnAbrams



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25732333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuinnAbrams/pseuds/QuinnAbrams
Summary: Artie is noticeably absent from Glee rehearsal, and everyone is worried. When it's revealed that he is in the hospital, Quinn is quick to check up on her good friend. *Quartie friendship* *I do not own Glee or it's characters* *Originally published by me on FanFiction.net*
Relationships: Artie Abrams/Quinn Fabray
Kudos: 6





	Support System

**Author's Note:**

> AUTHOR'S NOTE:
> 
> Hi everybody! Today, I present to you a Quartie friendship one-shot! It takes place sometime between 3x19 "Prom-A-Saurus" and 3x21 "Nationals". I originally published this story here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13616922/1/Support-System on 6/15/20, but I wanted to post it here too to reach a bigger audience!
> 
> I hope you enjoy it and that you please leave me some reviews letting me know your thoughts!
> 
> *I don't own any of the characters that Glee created, only the ones that I have developed for the purpose of this story. All rights for Glee and its characters are owned by Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, and FOX.*

"Alright, let's get started!" Mr. Schue clapped his hands as he entered the choir room from his adjoining office. "Our theme for the week is-"

"Wait, Mr. Schue, where's Artie?" Finn asked as the others glanced around in confusion. In the three years he had been in the Glee Club, Artie had yet to miss a rehearsal. He was extremely dedicated to the team- as well as his studies- and the fact that nobody had heard from him or seen him all day was alarming.

"Artie's going to be out for a little while," Mr. Schue shared. "He had surgery over the weekend and will have a couple of weeks of recovery ahead of him before he'll be back in here with us."

A chorus of "What?!"s came from around the room.

"Is he okay?!" Sam stood up.

"Did he get in another accident?!" Puck asked, concern for his friend evident in his voice.

"But what about Nationals?!" cried Rachel.

"Guys, relax, he's fine!" Tina assured them. She had been the only one Artie told that he was going under the knife. "Artie has had scoliosis for years now, but it's been getting worse recently. He just had a routine surgery to replace the original rods that were put in his back after his accident so that it straightens his spine back out."

Most of the New Directions breathed a collective sigh of relief at the fact that their friend was going to be fine, however, Rachel was still concerned about Nationals.

"Okay, Tina, that's great and all, but will he be okay for Chicago?!"

Tina rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest before responding.

"Yes, Rachel, Nationals isn't until June. Barring any unforeseen complications, he should be fine long before then."

Rachel nodded her approval and sat back down in her seat.

After everyone had settled down, Mr. Schuester continued on with his lesson for the week, but Quinn couldn't bring herself to focus on the assignment. Her mind was too busy worrying about Artie.

Quinn had been in the same position not too long ago, and she remembered how dreary and lonely the hospital was. The only thing that had brightened her days was when Artie would come to visit her every day after school. They may not have been the best of friends, but Artie knew that the others would try to sympathize the best they could, but they wouldn't understand how her world had just been turned upside down. But he did.

Quinn thanked God every day that she regained sensation in her legs and that, after a few months of physical therapy, she was able to make a full recovery. Artie hadn't been so lucky, and while Quinn knew that he was happy for her, she still felt a bit guilty about the remarkable progress she had made.

She couldn't pull her mind away from the thought of Artie laying bored and alone in a depressing hospital room. Besides maybe Tina, Quinn had a feeling that none of the other Glee Club members would be visiting him. Despite the fact that Artie is extremely talented, funny, and enjoyable to be around, he always seemed to be overlooked by the other kids and Mr. Schue alike.

Quinn made the decision right then and there to immediately head to St. Rita's Medical Center after school to visit her friend. It was the least she could do after he had come to see her so many times when she was the one lying in that bed.

With her mind made up, she was then able to return her attention to Mr. Schue's weekly lesson, which now, per usual, had Rachel and Mercedes fighting for a solo.

…

Artie was flipping through the boring channels on the hospital TV when there was a knock on the door. He turned his head expecting to see his doctor, a nurse, or one of his parents. Who he certainly did _not_ expect to see was Quinn Fabray.

"Up for a visitor?" the blonde asked shyly as she tucked a loose strand of her shoulder-length hair behind her ear.

Artie was speechless. He hadn't told anybody besides Tina, Mr. Schue, and his teachers about his surgery, so he hadn't been expecting any guests as he was recovering. A grateful smile appeared on his face as he nodded. Quinn walked towards the chair beside his bed and pulled it over so that she could be closer to him.

"How are you feeling?" Quinn asked. Artie could hear the concern in her voice.

"It hurts a lot more than I expected it to," Artie admitted honestly. "But they've been keeping me pretty doped up on the good stuff, so the pain's been manageable."

Quinn nodded, remembering her own spinal fusion surgery after her accident. They sat in a somewhat awkward silence for a few moments before Quinn spoke up again.

"Where's your family?"

"My parents could only take so many days off of work, so they decided to save them for when I'm recuperating at home. They'll be of more help later on, once I get home, anyway," Artie told her. Artie could sense another awkward pause coming on, so he decided to turn the conversation back on her.

"How'd you know I was here?"

"We were all worried when you weren't at school, and Mr. Schue told us you had surgery. Tina mentioned it was for scoliosis?"

Artie nodded with a small chuckle at the irony of the situation.

"With the steel rods holding my spine together, you wouldn't think my back would even be able to curve like that. But apparently, it's pretty common with SCI patients whose injury occurred before they were done growing. That, combined with doing all of the choreography from Glee Club, and the way I've been sitting in my chair… it became pretty painful to do basic everyday tasks. My doctor and my parents decided it would probably be better to get the surgery over with now instead of later on, but if it were up to me, I would have waited until after Nationals," Artie explained.

Quinn remembered how difficult she had found it to adapt the choreography after she had returned to Glee Club, and she had admired the way that Artie was able to twist, turn, and move in every dance number. Despite his many years of practice, he had always been more agile than she was in the chair, even though he had once told her that his injury had been at his T-10 vertebrae, and hers was far lower at L-3. She gained an incredible amount of respect for her friend in those few months that she was paralyzed.

"I'm sure Rachel was fuming when she found out how long I was going to be out for," Artie said with a groan.

"She was," Quinn smiled as Artie rolled his eyes dramatically. "Tina just about had to talk her off a ledge assuring her that you'd be back with ample time to prepare before Nationals."

Artie laughed imagining Tina coming to his defense to Rachel in front of the whole Glee Club. His sometime-lover was nothing if not a good friend.

"Thanks for coming here, Q," Artie said, changing the subject and giving his friend a genuinely grateful smile. "You really didn't have to do that."

"I just did what any good friend would do," Quinn shrugged, brushing off the compliment. "Plus, you were here every single day when the roles were reversed. The least I could do was come and check up on you."

Artie smiled. It felt nice to have a friend who finally understood what it was like to be in his position.

"I never actually thanked you for that by the way," Quinn's gaze was fixed on her hands clasped in her lap. "You helped me a lot those few months. I couldn't have gone through it without you."

Now it was Artie's turn to give a bashful smile and shrug off his friend's gratitude.

"Like you said, I just did what any good friend would do," came his humble response. "Besides, I've got plenty of acquired wisdom to share."

Artie had devoted nearly all of his free time to helping Quinn learn everything she needed to know about life as a paraplegic. He showed her the tips and tricks of floor-to-chair transfers (which are much more difficult than he made them seem), he cheered her on as she struggled up the steep ramps at McKinley, and he showed her that even if you are seeing the world from a wheelchair, there was still a life to be lived.

Quinn couldn't help but feel guilty for being so awful to him when he was just trying to help. Nobody blamed her for being upset- she had just gotten accepted to her dream college and was finally on her way out of Lima when her own dumb decision turned her life upside down. Quinn was in a deep depression and wasn't able to stop herself from taking out her frustrations about her current condition on her friend. She had felt remorseful the last couple of weeks ever since she had uttered those hateful words before ditching him at the skate park:

" _Look, I've been where you are. I know how it feels-"_

" _I'm not like you! This isn't my life!"_

" _When are you going to stop pretending that this isn't really happening to you?!"_

Quinn had regretted saying that the second it had escaped her lips, but those words were out in the universe now, and she couldn't take them back. She knew that she had probably made Artie feel terrible. He had given up every spare moment of his time to make sure that she was adjusting well to her new reality, and _that_ was how she repaid him? She wouldn't have blamed him if he never wanted to talk to her again.

Quinn never got the chance to properly deal with her feelings, given that it was only a matter of time before she was back on her feet, thanks to some rigorous daily physical therapy sessions. Now, she internalized those emotions she felt and tucked them away deep in the back of her mind. She had overcome that obstacle in her life; she had relearned to walk, and she was never going back to that bad mental place ever again.

Artie was happy for her, he really was. But he would be lying if he said he wasn't the slightest bit jealous of her miraculous recovery. Not that he was glad her accident had happened to her or anything- because he wouldn't wish paralysis on anyone- but it was nice for him to not be the only friend in a chair for a little bit. He was glad she had chosen to spend her senior ditch day with him at the skate park because the rest of their friends were headed to Six Flags, and he seriously hated amusement parks. They're exhausting, often inaccessible, and it's kind of a drag to have your friends help you on and off every ride.

"I was terrible to you," Quinn shook her head, too embarrassed by her actions to meet Artie's eyes. "How did you just forgive me like that?"

Sure, Quinn's words had stung. But, of course, he hadn't been angry at her. That was who he was- a kind, understanding, gem of a human. Artie just hadn't wanted her to get her hopes up, only to be disappointed later on. There was a brief period of time after his own accident when he had been told by doctors that there was a chance he too would regain feeling and movement in his lower half. Simply put, it never happened. Artie rightfully attributed Quinn's harshness to a state of denial and knew that he shouldn't hold her accountable for her words. A catastrophic injury, like the one they shared, required a lot more than just physical healing- it required emotional healing too.

"You were going through a lot," Artie said simply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I've been there, remember? I know what it's like to be angry at the universe and take it out on those around you. I wasn't very pleasant to my mother in the weeks following my accident, believe me."

Quinn finally found the strength to look up from her lap as she listened to what Artie was sharing. Her striking green eyes locked with his soulful blue ones.

"It took me a while to accept my disability too, but my mindset changed when I realized that walking wasn't _everything_." Artie continued. "So I'll never climb Mount Everest or run the Boston Marathon- big whoop. I'd never been athletic anyways."

A small smile appeared on Quinn's face.

"If I hadn't been in my chair, I wouldn't have discovered my love for music or joined Glee Club, simple as that. Everything happens for a reason, I guess. There's nothing we can do about it. We just have to accept the hand life gives us, no matter how shitty those cards are."

Before Quinn could open her mouth to respond, there was another knock at the door.

Artie glanced over Quinn's shoulder and a shocked look appeared on his face. Quinn spun around in her seat and was equally as surprised to see the rest of the New Directions standing in the doorway to the hospital room.

"Hey Wheels, mind if we come in?" Puck asked with a small smile.

"Of course," Artie nodded, still stunned that they were all here in the first place.

As every member filed into the small room, Artie busied himself by pulling the blankets up to adequately cover his lower half. He couldn't help but feel vulnerable and exposed when he wasn't in his chair, and at the moment, he was only wearing a hospital gown- he wasn't terribly eager to show off his skinny, muscle-atrophied legs. After all, he wore those baggy pleated khakis every day for a reason.

"The choir room felt empty without you, little dude," Finn said, hooking his thumbs on the pockets of his jeans. "We really missed you."

Artie blushed as the others nodded in agreement. Based on the way his voice tended to only be utilized for background vocals, he didn't think his absence would really be noticed. Apparently, he was wrong.

"Well, thanks for coming by, you guys. It really means a lot to me," Artie said honestly, hoping his friends couldn't see the grateful tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

"You're our secret weapon," Rachel replied, to Artie's astonishment. "We love you, Artie. All of us do. And while we wish that you were able to prepare for Nationals alongside us, your health comes first. I think I speak for everyone by saying that we are all hoping that you have a speedy and painless recovery, and when you are ready to return, your spot on the stage will be waiting for you."

Artie's heart swelled in his chest. In the years after his accident, he had been bullied, teased, tormented, slushies- you name it. Never in a million years had he dreamed that he would have such an incredible and understanding support system of friends. And it felt better than he ever could have imagined.

_**THE END** _

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this one-shot of one of my favorite friendships from the show!
> 
> I wish we got to see more of them, and I'm really sad that we didn't get to see the way that Quinn and Artie sorted things out after their little fight at the skate park in 3x15 "Big Brother" on senior ditch day. :(
> 
> Please leave me any reviews, thoughts, and messages you have after reading on this tale! Reading your feedback really motivates me to continue writing! Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> xoxo QuinnAbrams


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